advice needed

Bub34

Hey me an my girlfriend are moving to oz soon we've been surfin for a year an half now an love it..The problem is the choice of where t live is wat i need help with. Are we goin to get to surf every day if we live in Brisbane or Melbourne ave any you surfer people live in these places? Plz some advice be great

promethius

Bub34 wrote: »

Hey me an my girlfriend are moving to oz soon we've been surfin for a year an half now an love it..The problem is the choice of where t live is wat i need help with. Are we goin to get to surf every day if we live in Brisbane or Melbourne ave any you surfer people live in these places? Plz some advice be great

i lived around brisbane for a year. lived in surfers paradise for some of this. not what it sounds like the waves were ok. further up the gold coast some nice spots like burleigh heads, beautiful beaches and little surf shops etc. great surfers up there so wasn't as easy as here to catch a few. wear lots of suncream! enjoy and have a great trip

i know nothing about melbourne.

Bub34

Thanks did you find your surfing progress out their? Im afraid if i live in the city its going to be a awful travel to find the waves an wont get t go that often. Wud you happen on the Irish in the line up?

seachto7

I'd imagine you'd be going well out of the city in Melbourne to catch waves?

Mickeroo

Friend of mine lived in Perth and used to walk to the surf every morning before work. Going by the map Melbourne is pretty sheltered, most of the waves are bound to be a bit outside the city.

noserider

The nearest surf able beach is quite a distance away from Melbourne City. Think you're talking around the hour mark to the mornington peninsula. Torquay (bells) is even further from what I remember but probably more consistent than anything to the east of the city. Melbourne is a very nice city to live in though.
The standard of surfing in oz is world class. Choose wisely, the best breaks will be crowded. If you are a beginner research some mellow beach breaks, Sydney's northern beaches may be attractive to you. Manly would not be a bad spot with a lot of options around.

atilladehun

I have also lived in Melbourne and concur. It's a nice trip at the weekends but you can't go on a daily basis. Oh yes, and it's much colder than up north.

seachto7

I think one thing to bear in mind in Aus, is, as the cities are so spread out, on a map, you could be close to the sea, but you could be at least an hour away from the ocean, not to mind a spot with waves.

promethius

Bub34 wrote: »

Thanks did you find your surfing progress out their? Im afraid if i live in the city its going to be a awful travel to find the waves an wont get t go that often. Wud you happen on the Irish in the line up?

it was very hard to catch waves if i'm totally honest. line ups were busy and standard is through the roof. think of the best local at any spot in ireland, dozens of them in the aussie line ups. catching waves here is so much easier, even what we'd consider a busy spot here is deserted by aussie standards and at least half the surfers aren't actually catching waves.

Bub34

promethius wrote: »

it was very hard to catch waves if i'm totally honest. line ups were busy and standard is through the roof. think of the best local at any spot in ireland, dozens of them in the aussie line ups. catching waves here is so much easier, even what we'd consider a busy spot here is deserted by aussie standards and at least half the surfers aren't actually catching waves.

Yeah that's wat i was thinking. I still consider myself a beginning an probably be just sticking to the more mellow break. An i live on east coast ere so i rarely get prefect surf. But im just addicted to it, an really want to be surfin a couple times a week. Was surfing a big part of your life over Dr? Thanks for the help

seachto7

Have you thought about France or Spain at all?

Bub34

Im carperter so need to follow the work. Be nice do!

seachto7

Ah I see. Well, don't rule out NZ either.

promethius

Bub34 wrote: »

Yeah that's wat i was thinking. I still consider myself a beginning an probably be just sticking to the more mellow break. An i live on east coast ere so i rarely get prefect surf. But im just addicted to it, an really want to be surfin a couple times a week. Was surfing a big part of your life over Dr? Thanks for the help

no it wasn't really, when i lived there i started to get into it and took it on seriously when i got back to ireland. i was over a few times with work after that and used bring my board with me and that's when i saw more of it.

VNP

Is it worth bringing a board promethius? I'm heading north of Brisbane for a month this year would it be safer just get a junk secondhand board there or could you rent pretty cheap from shops? Heard its getting pricy out there since I was there many moons ago. Don't fancy travelling with much baggage.
Heard stradbrook island isn't too far out of Brisbane has some nice deserted beaches?
Sorry for butting in on thread

cpoh1

Brisbane - world class waves within 2 hours. coolangatta, byron, burleigh to the south, noosa, straddie, coolum to the east/north. You wont get much surfing done during the week unless you take time off work.

Sydney - Much less choice than gold coast and city beaches are bananas crowded. Wave quality is poor too.

Melbourne - lots of driving and much colder too (not ireland cold)

To echo prometheus, standard is crazy but you'll still get waves. The east coast of Oz rarely gets decent size, needs a cyclone really to get the major spots going and most of the time its 1-2ft slop. Sunny and water is warm though.

Ireland has better more consistent surf to be honest.

FlashD

cpoh1 wrote: »

Ireland has better more consistent surf to be honest.

You're either living in fantasy land or you've been brainwashed by the surf magazines full of baloney and blarney about the 'mystic' and 'adventure' of surfing in Ireland.

Give me a pile of money and I'd be out of here in a shot back to Noosa or somewhere similar where I don't have to wear a big stupid rubber suit that weighs half a tonne like flaming Robocop, all while freezing my ass off in constant gale force winds.

Yeah, stay in Ireland for the 'better consistent' surf, must be why we have so many professional competitors on the ASP tour.

seachto7

I was and am pretty much always will be a novice, but when I was in WA, I went up to Lancelin/Cervantes one day, and rented a board.
Wasn't that crowded, but crowded enough for the "middle of nowhere".

cpoh1

FlashD wrote: »

You're either living in fantasy land or you've been brainwashed by the surf magazines full of baloney and blarney about the 'mystic' and 'adventure' of surfing in Ireland.

Give me a pile of money and I'd be out of here in a shot back to Noosa or somewhere similar where I don't have to wear a big stupid rubber suit that weighs half a tonne like flaming Robocop, all while freezing my ass off in constant gale force winds.

Yeah, stay in Ireland for the 'better consistent' surf, must be why we have so many professional competitors on the ASP tour.

What have wetsuits and cold weather got to do with the quality of surf?

I lived in Brisbane for 9 months and we rarely got surf over 4ft, and when it got bigger it nearly always had the devil winds with the size and monster crowds.

Dont get me wrong, noosa is paradise but i never surfed it over head high, same with burleigh, currumbin and the pass in byron, lennox heads was always blown out. D-bah was about the only surfable spot on the coast a lot of the time with 2-3ft mush. I surfed a log more often than a shortboard over there, admittedly the points are world class and perfectly set-up for longboarding.

But sure its sunny and the water is warm and you get to wear board shorts and hang out on the beach. Now you tell me who has been brain washed by the surf mags?

cpoh1

OP have a look at NZ as one poster already suggested. Better surf than OZ, much better quality of life, more stuff to do besides the beach and better people too.

Water is cooler than OZ but its much warmer than Ireland (in the north island), shortie wetsuit/boardies in summer and worst case 4/3 in the winter. Classic waves without as many crowds as OZ all over the coasts.

bladebrew

I have been surfing since last May and moved to OZ in January, to be honest I thought I would be surfing way more, Noosa is nice north of Brisbane, and Byron is good, everywhere is crowded though, and as mentioned the locals (I assume) in the line up are all like pros,
Board rental is pretty cheap about $20 for 4 hours, and there are heaps of boards for sale on Gumtree, new boards in shops are cheap enough but it's short boards everywhere! I try stay at nice beach breaks but most of them have serious rips and shore dumps, so the water is 27 degrees, but there are plenty of cons aswell! I personally love Inch strand and am looking forward to surfing a near empty inch on a Sunday morning again,but I don't miss the cold!

FlashD

cpoh1 wrote: »

I lived in Brisbane for 9 months and we rarely got surf over 4ft, and when it got bigger it nearly always had the devil winds with the size and monster crowds.

You couldn't have surfed all that much if you were stuck in Brisbane, sure I was there myself for half a year and rarely surfed in that time, only an odd weekend. The coast is blocked by Moreton and Stradbroke Island which get empty waves but are a mission to access.

You're next nearest port of call is the Gold Coast to the south, an hour away.

cpoh1 wrote: »

But sure its sunny and the water is warm and you get to wear board shorts and hang out on the beach. Now you tell me who has been brain washed by the surf mags?

Sunny warm versus freezing rain, hmm. I must be brainwashed. Go on with ya, you're taking the p*ss now.

Bub34

Hey flash d where did you do all ur surfing over dr ? Thanks lads for all the help. Kinda pissed do you get this impression your going to get surf a **** load over their but realistically your not.

steviesorous

To be honest you're best staying away from Brisbane (haven't surfed up there myself), Melbourne if you want to surf on a daily basis, realistically sydney would be your best bet for work and surf, but cpoh is right, it's very crowed and the surf is predominately small although the reefs are very good when they're on but I will disagree with the onshore mush, usually from autumn through winter it's offshore most mornings until the north Easter kicks in around midday, but the crowds are intense and it takes some getting used to, I've had lots of sessions with no waves at the start and fighting for the ones to do get, but you get used to it and I've no probs getting waves even in a packed lineup now. But it takes time. Best of luck wherever you decide anyway.

keryl

Hi


If your moving to Melbourne, basically Port Phillip is the island to the right of Melbourne, Ocean Road is to the left. Both take at least an 1.15 to get to, there is also the mornington penninsula along the drive to Port Philip with is probably that bit shorter to get to.

Unless you have transport (obviously) and really get up early to catch the waves, your realistically looking at surfing weekends or days off. It's not near the surf...

You would need to live closer to the places I mentioned to take full advantage.

Scarborough beach isn't far off Perth and has surf and obviously there's more spots around there but anyway, above is my experience of Melbourne, hope that helps.

Bub34

keryl wrote: »

Hi


If your moving to Melbourne, basically Port Phillip is the island to the right of Melbourne, Ocean Road is to the left. Both take at least an 1.15 to get to, there is also the mornington penninsula along the drive to Port Philip with is probably that bit shorter to get to.


Unless you have transport (obviously) and really get up early to catch the waves, your realistically looking at surfing weekends or days off. It's not near the surf...

You would need to live closer to the places I mentioned to take full advantage.

Scarborough beach isn't far off Perth and has surf and obviously there's more spots around there but anyway, above is my experience of Melbourne, hope that helps.

It sound like you live an surf around Melbourne, did you find your surfing got better over there? And wat did you think of the surf over ther. Dont mean to be askin stupid questions just tryin to build up as much info as i can

cpoh1

FlashD wrote: »

You couldn't have surfed all that much if you were stuck in Brisbane, sure I was there myself for half a year and rarely surfed in that time, only an odd weekend. The coast is blocked by Moreton and Stradbroke Island which get empty waves but are a mission to access.

You're next nearest port of call is the Gold Coast to the south, an hour away.

Yes I was "stuck" in Brisbane, an hour away from the beach, how can anyone get a surf in living an hours drive from a beach :rolleyes:

You mustn't get past your local much in Ireland, no wonder you are so clueless about how good the surf is here.

VNP

Yeah, stay in Ireland for the 'better consistent' surf, must be why we have so many professional competitors on the ASP tour.[/QUOTE]

I always thought it was because they only make 25000 dollars a year getting started in the ASP and pay for their own flights etc out of that? theres few companies willing to sponsor young Irish talent to swan around the world while they could be sponsoring some local team for half nothing, You d be financially better off working in mc donalds and surfing away. Might be more to do with marketing too and the relatively low interest in surfing in general population of Ireland vs oz where surfings up there with watching the football.

promethius

VNP wrote: »

Is it worth bringing a board promethius? I'm heading north of Brisbane for a month this year would it be safer just get a junk secondhand board there or could you rent pretty cheap from shops? Heard its getting pricy out there since I was there many moons ago. Don't fancy travelling with much baggage.
Heard stradbrook island isn't too far out of Brisbane has some nice deserted beaches?
Sorry for butting in on thread

by the time you've paid to ship it over and back it's not really worth it. like bringing sand to the desert over there, loads of used ones to be picked up and sold on if you don't like it or it's time to move on. loads of choice. even with the best of intentions it's very hard to transport a board that far without some kind of damage. i brought one a few times with work trips then rented instead, it wasn't that expensive and was nice that you could try out some different boards.

promethius

i saw on one of the well known surfing dvds (cant' remember which) that put ireland in the same class as australia for waves, was something along the lines of them both being very good but inconsistent which is fair i think.

i lived a few years in san diego, the waves were never that big but by god it was consistent, the wind blew offshore every morning, turned for lunch and died down in the evening. rarely got any big heavy days but to be honest i preferred the consistency.

keryl

BUB34


Not living there now but for definite my surfing went backwards. I can't give advice on the East Coast or Sydney as I only passed through but from what I saw, Noosa, Byron etc were literally on your doorstep whereas in Melbourne you really have to plan it. If I was doing it again and concentrating on my surfing, I would say those spots on the East Coast or Perth but Melbourne socially is a great city, great clubs, bars, music etc. Byron/Noosa, the vibe just seemed unreal. Surprised Noosa was that built up to be honest and quite pricey but is is beside the sea...

If you did think about heading to Torquay or Philip Island, sure the summer would be alive there but very very much seasonal work is only available.... I remember being in Torquay in October and my God it was freeezing, a lot like the weather we have now.